Hello There!

Early presenters - Chris Trace, Valerie Singleton and John Noakes

Hello There ...yes, those were the two immortal words used by generations of presenters down through 5 decades of the children's television programme Blue Peter and, of course, in the introduction of each annual.

When I was born in 1961, Blue Peter had already been on the air for 3 years, but I am privileged to have viewed perhaps the programme's golden era as a child, when the legendary John Noakes, Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves were the presenters in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Every Christmas my parents would buy me the Blue Peter annual and nothing was so exciting as reading the stories, attempting the puzzles or finding out about the pets, presenters and the best bits of all the programmes throughout the preceding year.

Much has been written about the success and longevity of Blue Peter but I still find it intriguing to ponder on why it has continued to be so engaging for five or more generations of youngsters and adults alike. There is clearly something very special about it's formula that has kept it going for over 50 years when so many other children's television programmes have come and gone and yet the programme has changed almost beyond recognition from the days when Christopher Trace demonstrated his 00 gauge model train set wearing a very formal suit and tie back in 1958, to the newest presenter, Barney Harwood chatting informally to viewers via the Internet on the BBC website in 2011. 

But on reflection, perhaps the basic formula hasn't changed that much since 1958 - it's the world and our technology that have moved on and perhaps the style in which things are conveyed. What Blue Peter continues to offer is that friendly magazine format which entertains, informs, educates ...and includes young people.

Newest presenter in 2011 - Barney Harwood

Blue Peter has come through many wider social and cultural eras in the UK. Post war Britain experiencing mass immigration and the increasingly dominant influence of American pop / rock'n'roll culture and mass media from the late 50s; Jimi Hendrix and the permissive and psychedelic revolution of the 60s; urban expansion, modernisation and Sid Vicious in the late 70s; Thatcherism, yuppies, big hair, Bob Geldof and class conflict in the 80s; Tony Blair, the Gallagher brothers and the rapid growth of new technology such as the internet in the 90s; globalisation, war on terror, world recession and Simon Cowell in the 2000s; how can a television show survive so many periods of cultural, technological and social change without becoming outmoded or obsolete?

This blog is my celebration and exploration of the television phenomenon that has been and continues to be Blue Peter - the show that started 11 years before they put a man on the moon!

Through this blog I want to review my personal Blue Peter library of annuals and other publications and I will attempt to build an online archive of articles, videos, pictures and links.

The site is not for profit - my fascination with and admiration for Blue Blue Peter are purely a hobby - and neither is it my intention to infringe copy right, so please let me know if I have done so inadvertently, so that such items can be removed or so that I can acknowledge either author, artist or intellectual source.

Please enjoy my new blog and please contribute too!


Pete Millington
Birmingham, UK